I haven't been in the habit of making a lot of journal posts & might try to remedy that... 2022 had a lot of heavy hardships hit us... losing our feline family member then followed by the loss of several family members... Over Christmas, I was worried that I might lose my mother as well, but thankfully she's managed to improve & pull through.💦 So... to put it bluntly 2022 was definitely one of the roughest & most turbulent.

After a lot of the turmoil going on, we had started to make some plans to have things to look forward to in the coming year. We started some initial travel planning that happened to focus on a chance event we came across in our early brainstorming. One of our biggest bucket list travel destinations has been New Zealand/Australia... and we happened to run into the date for the Hobbiton Movie Set Summer Harvest Festival. An event they only do once per year & it is a humdinger of a shindig. So with that in mind we then worked an itinerary around that date. So our jet-setting trip started on January 29th where we first set off with a layover in Tahiti. It was nice having a little bit of time to explore around both the main island of Tahiti itself as well as Morea.

Tahiti Day 1 (Thread)

Tahiti Day 2 (Thread)

After our layover we crossed the international time zone, traveling 1 day into the future... as we landed in Auckland, Newzealand. We didn't have much time here, but we made the most of it by going to the Weta Workshop Unleased in the Sky Tower in downtown.

Aukland (Thread)

We then hopped a short local flight from Aukland to Rotorua, one of the big seats of Maori cultural heritage in the area. I have now learned how to drive on the other side of the road since we rented a car after arriving so we could get around in the northern island. We visited the Hell's Gate mud bath & spa for some nice relaxation & that evening we were picked up & brought to a Maori village for a cultural dinner event. The following day we visited one of the largest geothermal parks. That was quite surprising to see but given the volcanic activity in the surrounding area, it shouldn't have been that surprising.

Our next destination was Matamata for the Hobbiton Summer Harvest Festival. We had a long drive through the scenic winding highways crossing through the countryside. The festival was everything we could've hoped for. They picked us up from the iSite building in Matamata & bussed us to the set. We got to hear some interesting tidbits about the production & eventual 2nd building of Hobbiton as the original set was just temporary & had to be torn down. When they were greenlit for The Hobbit movies they made a more permanent establishment there (for dual purpose of tourism). The set was amazing & we were slowly guided through it eventually making our way to the Green Dragon Pub where the celebrations were going on. They had plenty of food & drink with music & dancing... it was fit for folks (hobbits) of all ages.

Hobbiton Summer Harvest Festival(Thread)

On our way back to Auckland we made a stop at the Waitomu Glowworm Caverns & had time to visit one of their other massive cave systems. It was quite awe-inspiring to see what nature managed to create without any intervention from anyone. From there we flew down to Queenstown for more adventures on the southern isle. One of the highlights we had was another Lord of the Rings themed tour, we were picked up by our guide with several others making for a fun fellowship touring the area around Queenstown & Glenorchy.

Queenstown (Thread)

We made our way from New Zealand over to Australia where our first port of call would be Cairnes, by way of Brisbane. We only had a short time there, we had a snorkeling cruise out on The Great Barrier Reef around Hastings Reef.

Great Barrier Reef

Next on the agenda was a trip out to Uluru to see the mighty Ayers Rock... and it has captured my imagination since I was young... I recall seeing it in the movie, The Rescuers Down Under, & other films. We got to also see a neat installation called the "Field of Lights" which was lit up after our dinner & seeing the dark night sky before the moon rose. Another interesting factoid was that we were 10,711 miles from home... the furthest we had ever traveled.

Uluru/Ayers Rock (Thread)

Our next port of call was Melbourne where we had a focus more on nature in particular some animal-themed adventures. The first day we had a full day planned around going to Phillips Island to see the "Little Penguins" marching from the sea to their home in the sandy dunes of the beach. But before that, we saw the Brighton Beach Boxes with plenty of local color. A big highlight for me was our next stop at the Moonlit Sanctuary, sort of a zoo, but more focused on rehabilitation. They had animals on display in very nice enclosures. The most interesting part was being able to purchase food & being able to hand-feed the kangaroos & wallabies that were allowed to roam freely.

Sydney was the last stop on our whirlwind jet-setting Oceanic Adventure. There was a lot to see & we managed to do a lot of walking around this iconic city, specifically around Darling Harbour, Circular Quay & through the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Sydney (Thread)

Valentine's Day  ralkor treated me to a wonderful evening with dinner in the north foyer, followed by the original Bohemian love story, Puccini's La Bohème, at the iconic Sydney Opera House.

Valentines 2023


So that was one heck of an amazing adventure... The likes of which I'm not sure we'll ever have again... but we made some wonderful, cherished memories that won't be forgotten. We have other plans to look forward to in 2023... A magical Disney World adventure is on the horizon in April... as well as some entertainment with concerts from artists touring that we are excited to see. So a lot to be grateful for & we may be looking to adopt a kitten soon. So it is good to get that 'travel bug' out of our system to be able to focus on that.